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— Written by The Critic

When I came to know that a book titled Fixing Academia: Reflections from a New Generation of Scholars was coming out in April this year, I was extremely excited. For the last year and a half, as I wrapped up my PhD, much of my intellectual life has been dedicated to thinking about the problems facing academia, attempting in whatever micro way possible to shift aspects of the intellectual culture we currently inhabit, and resisting some of the dominant logics of academic training as I continue to practise scholarship through forms of difference. A title such as Fixing Academia therefore speaks directly to the very raison d’être that has increasingly driven my intellectual life. 

By means of a brief overview, the book aims to be both diagnostic and prognostic. Each chapter tackles a specific issue facing contemporary academia: access to universities from both an individual and global perspective, competitive funding, promotion rights, work-life balance, academic writing, research integrity, and academic publishing. Alongside identifying problems, the contributors also outline what has already been done to address them and what more should follow. The editors acknowledge at the outset that no definitive list of academic problems can ever be produced, noting that “every era has its own issues.” The chapters therefore reflect concerns identified by ten young scholars working primarily within the Dutch academic context at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam. Nevertheless, the editors also hope that the reflections offered in the book will provoke discussion and action beyond the Netherlands.